More Than a Feeling
by SSRegallyChamp
Summary: Marty and Jennifer were the average high school sweethearts. When they get thrown into 1950's Hill Valley, however, their relationship is put to the test as they navigate a town that is familiar, and yet entirely new. AU.
1. A Curious Thing

**A/N: This fic was a request from retro-mania.**

The rays of the sun rose up above the rooftops of Hill Valley, as the oranges and yellows of sunrise gave way to a soft blue. Below, people were rising from their beds, the signs outside store windows changed from "Closed" to "Open," and the entire town seemed to be waking from slumber.

At the very edge of town, two teens stood and looked out over it. They stared out across the streets and buildings that were at once familiar and unfamiliar. For a moment, they could only stare in awe. That was, until the girl, Jennifer, grabbed Marty's hand and practically pulled him through the streets of their hometown.

There were kids playing on the sidewalks, and men in suits rushing to work. She could spot a few teens her age wandering around in packs, similar to the way her friends did. The streets were lined with shops, selling everything from cars to clothes to records of all things. Green, manicured grass and pastel-colored buildings were everywhere. The clock tower that Jennifer had never once seen move chimed on the hour. There was so much to take in at once that she became lost in her surroundings.

"So now that we're here, where do you wanna go?" she asked.

"I was thinking we could head to the town square and find a phone book somewhere. You know, to give Doc a call. If anyone around here knows anything that could help us, it's him."

"You think he'd still...be around? I mean, we just saw him get shot at!" she said tentatively, causing Marty to stare at his feet and furrow his brow.

"It's 1955, remember? We've got a time machine, for Christ's sake! We can fix this. All I gotta do is tell him what happens in the future! I mean, it's not like he's dead or anything. He can't be dead," Marty replied, a faraway look evident in his eyes. "If I remember right, Lou's is a restaurant now. I can run in and get his number."

Jennifer nodded, relieved, and they continued to walk down the streets. With a plan in mind, she allowed herself to relax. She was really in the fifties, and was able to see what life was like back before she was even born. It was mind blowing, considering she wasn't supposed to exist yet at all. Her home seemed so far away now, and not a single person milling around in the town square would've held a glimpse of recognition towards her at the moment. She was a stranger in her own town.

She hated seeing Marty in a state that was somewhere between glum and confused. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, and his eyes were widened and flitting around, not unlike a frightened deer. "This isn't that bad," she said to him. "I mean, look around at the stores, and the cars, and the dresses. Oh, it's just like the movies!"

He gave a half-hearted smile, but he soon gave the expression of utter confusion soon afterwards. Jennifer frowned, as all of her efforts to cheer him up seemed to be in vain. Doc Brown meant a lot to him, apparently. Of course he would still be upset.

"We're here," said Marty, interrupting her thoughts. The cafe stood in front of them, and they strolled in. "You mind waitin' here while I get the number?"

"Oh, no," she replied, taking a seat at the counter while he asked a worker where the phone was and then disappeared into the back room. Around her, other teens her age (or who appeared to be around her age, at least) were sitting in packs and speaking animatedly to each other. They took up the majority of the place-the cafe was the teen hangout of the time, she supposed.

From behind the counter, a much older man shuffled over to where she sat. She vaguely recognized him from when the cafe was still open as Lou Caruthers, the owner of the place. "Listen, miss, are you gonna order something?" he asked in a gruff voice as he eyed her suspiciously.

"I guess...do you sell coffee here?"

"Read the sign," he replied, gesturing to the aforementioned sign that read "Coffee-10 cents." Compared to 1985 prices, that was insanely cheap.

"Just a coffee, then," she said, pulling a spare dime out of her jeans pocket and handing it to him.

He took a look at the coin, and then did a double take. "You tryin' to pull something over on me, ma'am?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"The money! The date on the dime says 1978. What, is this some kind of prank?"

"No! It's just a joke! It's joke money. Thought you might need a laugh. Ha, funny, right?" she said, faking a laugh and showing off her megawatt smile in hopes of not drawing too much attention to herself.

Needless to say, he was not amused and stared at her with a deadpan expression. He tossed the dime back onto the countertop and walked away, muttering something under his breath about "those damn delinquent kids."

Although she didn't agree, she had to begrudgingly admit that she understood why he would've thought that. What was she thinking, not bothering to check the date on the money? Besides, the way she was dressed didn't help matters much. Her denim jacket and jeans were of the latest trends-for 1985, that was. Jennifer had been trying to ignore the stares she'd been on the receiving end of all day, but it was still an unusual experience to be looked at like she had three heads or something.

Just as she was trying to shake off the embarrassment of her encounter with Mr. Caruthers, Marty emerged from the back room, folded paper in hand. "I got the address. Now all we've gotta do is actually find the place. "

He walked over to the same worker. Jennifer followed, trying to keep her head down. "Sir!" Marty said. "Do you know where 1640 Riverside Drive is?"

Caruthers took one look at Jennifer, shook his head, and walked away without another word. "What was that all about?" Marty asked.

"Nothing. Let's just go," replied Jennifer, anxious to leave the cafe.

They left in a hurry and re-entered the bustling town streets, starting the walk to the mansion.

...

"This is definitely the one," Marty said as they stood at the front step of the Brown mansion. The building loomed over them; Jennifer hadn't expected it to be so huge. It was several floors high, and seemed creaky and ancient even by 50's standards.

"Wait, didn't he live in that garage?" she asked.

"Well, he does now; or at least he did, no, I mean he will in 1985. This whole place got torched in '62 from some experiment," Marty replied wistfully. "He told me the story once, and I think he still has the articles about it from the newspaper hanging up."

For as long as Jennifer knew, Doc Brown had lived in the tiny garage since forever. Of course, the idea that he used to live in a haunted mansion was tossed around in middle school. She had believed in it wholeheartedly at first, but eventually dismissed it as yet another fake rumor.

Marty wasted no time and knocked on the mansion door. After a few moments of silence, the door flew open to reveal Doc Brown. He didn't look much different than the older version Jennifer had met a few times. Besides the blond hair and suit, he was almost unchanged. "Can I help you kids with something?" he asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Can we come in? This might sound weird," Marty replied. Dr. Brown opened the door wider and allowed them to pass. The look on his face was just as confused as Marty's had been.

The room of the mansion Jennifer found herself in was also not much of a huge change from the future. It seemed like a bigger, cleaner version of the garage. Tools, blueprints, and multicolored metal contraptions of varying size and complexity were littered around the floor and tables. Some of the machines had red and green flashing lights, and with others, it was impossible to tell what they actually were.

"Look," Marty said. "This is gonna sound crazy, but we came here in a time machine that you invented. We're from the year 1985."

Dr. Brown stared off into the distance, incredulous. He touched his temple, where an injury was cut and bandaged. "I never invented any time machine," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else. Then, he turned to stare at her. "Is what he's saying true?"

"Yes. I'm from then, too! I saw the time machine by accident on the day of the first experiment, and I had already seen it, so you let me come along."

Dr. Brown chuckled softly. "And who is President in 1985?"

"Ronald Reagan!" exclaimed Marty without a second thought.

Dr. Brown was unable to contain his laughter, and began rambling about having an actor be president and asking if Jane Wyman was First Lady, all while waving his hands animatedly. Marty worriedly glanced at her. If Dr. Brown didn't believe them, then they were screwed. Nobody else knew anything about the time machine.

Marty had pulled out his driver's license, which wouldn't have expired until 1987. Jennifer, taking the cue, pulled out her own from her pocket as well. Their efforts did not succeed. Dr. Brown looked at them and responded with, "Alright, kids, prank's over. You can go home now."

An idea dawned on Marty. Jennifer could see the figurative lightbulb turning on over his head. "The bruise!" he exclaimed. "The bruise on your head! I know how you got it, you've told me all about it. You were hanging a clock over the toilet when you slipped and fell. Then, you had a vision of the flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible!"

Dr. Brown gaped at Marty, eyes practically bugging out of his head. "That's impossible," he said. "I haven't even written that down yet. The mere idea of a flux capacitor exists nowhere except in the annals of my own mind!"

Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief. "So do you believe us now?" she asked.

"I suppose I have to. Why don't you two sit down somewhere while I write down some designs?" he asked. He stared off into space instead of looking at either of them, and it was clear that his mind was otherwise occupied.

As they waded through the inventions that littered the floor to find a couch or something, they once again realized how strange of a situation they were in. There they were, standing in a mansion that would burn down before they were born as Dr. Brown sketched the first plans for a time machine, a version of which sat in its completed form behind a billboard.

Marty could only comment on one thing.

"I guess we'll have to postpone that trip to the lake even further, huh?"


	2. Home at Night

There was an uneasy silence that soon settled over the people in the room. Marty glanced around impatiently, while Jennifer ran her fingers through her hair. Dr. Brown sat at a desk mulling over the flux capacitor, frantically scribbling notes unseen to them on a piece of paper.

From what little Jennifer knew of the scientist from 1985, she perceived him as someone who would take pleasure in explaining his current project to Marty or whoever else would listen. Neither Marty or herself could understand half the advanced scientific things he said, but his energy was infectious nonetheless. It was strange seeing him so quiet.

From his spot on the cluttered couch, Marty cleared his throat and said, "Doc...do you have any idea when we'll be able to go back to 1985?"

"It's impossible to say at the moment. I'll have to take a look at the machine. You do have the machine, I assume?"

"Well, yeah. We parked it behind the Lyon Estates billboard after we escaped that crazy farmer whose barn we crashed into. Can you believe he thought we were aliens?"

"You were traveling in a vehicle entirely foreign to that man just after tearing a hole in space. The idea of extraterrestrial life was not very far of a conclusion to arrive at. Of course, there's no reason to assume our planet is the only one capable of supporting life, making that man's idea quite believable. And I'm getting off topic again. I want to see this machine for myself and bring it back to the garage for experimentation. Would you mind staying here? I want to attract as little attention as possible."

"No prob, Doc," Marty said. "But maybe later we could take a look around town, or you could show us around. I mean..."

"Absolutely not! If my theory is correct, any changes made in the past could affect the future in unwanted ways. It's the Butterfly Effect. Changes to the past could leave enormous ripples on the fabric of time. Do you understand?"

Marty nodded. He understood the gist of it, at least.

"I'll be back soon. Take care! I have work to do!" he replied, sprinting out the front door and leaving a trail of dropped papers and knocked-over trinkets in his wake.

...

"It's been hours! Where is he? He still isn't back," remarked Jennifer. The whole day had come and gone without a trace of the scientist. Left alone in the mansion, there was only so much the two could do. Dr. Brown's textbooks that were lying around became boring to the teens in the instant that their front covers had been opened. Even the scattered machinery had lost its novelty by that point. "Is he okay?" she asked.

Marty stood up, stepped over quite a few random contraptions on the ground, and went to the window. He pulled back the curtain to reveal a view of the garage that doubled as a lab. Sparks of light flared periodically from the dusty windows of the small building. "He'll be fine," he replied. "Just got a little carried away with working on the time machine stuff, that's all. Nothing too weird. One time he forgot to eat for three days straight."

Marty's expression was one she had seen before. His one-sided smirk and half-lidded eyes suggested a nonchalant coolness to him. However, his features were tinged with uncertainty. Their situation was certainly strange, and Marty hadn't spoken much about how it had affected him. She knew it probably wasn't good. Perhaps there was something she could do to lift her own spirits as well as his.

"Hey, do you think he'll be back here anytime soon?" she asked.

"Nah. He'll probably stay out there all night with that car."

"Well, we can't spend our whole time here cooped up in this mansion. This whole situation we're in right now? There has to be a way to make it better. To find the good in all this! Look, it's barely seven o' clock. All the stores downtown should still be open."

"Are you sayin' we should sneak out? I mean, you heard what the Doc said. We could screw up the future or something."

"I'm saying that we're in a whole new time and we've barely seen anything! Don't you want to look around a little? Besides, there's no real proof of the Butterfly Effect existing. It's only a theory. If we don't talk to anybody we know, we'll be fine."

"I don't know about all this. Besides, I think I'll stick to 1985. Can't wait until Doc finds a way to get us out of here," said Marty. He went to the dust-covered radio in the corner and switched it on, only for a schmaltzy piano ballad to begin to play. "I mean, listen to this. I miss rock 'n roll already. And nobody else I know besides you is here. They're either not born yet or don't know me," he explained while shutting off the radio.

"And you'll hear it again soon. We'll be back before you know it. But while we're here, can't we enjoy what we can? We can spend the night out on town! It'll be something to take our minds off of all the other stuff going on. No parents, nobody around to tell us what we can or can't do. It's like a vacation, and it'll be just like the trip to the lake we planned."

Jennifer's last comment brought images of her parents to mind. While she refused to consider the possibility that she would never see them again, they seemed impossibly far away to her. Were they wondering where she was? She had entered 1955 in a time machine, so they could return home at the same time they left and give the illusion that they hadn't been gone at all. Her mom and dad had no idea. For the time being, there truly was nobody to tell her what to do. It was a strange sort of fresh start.

It was too bad she'd left her dad on such a sour note before leaving, though. Before she left, Jennifer had been confronted by her father. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but she still remembered it vividly.

On that day, she had been in her room when her dad had called her to come to the kitchen. As soon as Jennifer left the bedroom and saw him, she knew something was up. Her father was sitting at his spot at the table, arms folded and resting. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and his eyes were cold and glaring into her. The table was spotlessly clear except for a white envelope. "Sit down, Jennifer," he said.

She did as she was told, eyeing the envelope suspiciously. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, and she briefly wondered if this was what prisoners felt like while being interrogated. From the way her dad was reacting, nothing good could've possibly come out of it. It was ripped open at the top, showing that he had already seen it.

"Do you know what that is?" he'd asked.

Jennifer shook her head no.

"It's a letter. From your teacher. Apparently, you're in danger of failing algebra."

"What? But Dad, I-"

"Don't 'but Dad' me. I'm disappointed in you, young lady."

"I've been busy! I've been keeping up with all my other classes, and there's also cheerleading practice. It's too much!"

"Well, you'd better fix it soon. Get those grades up or you'll be grounded. You won't be seeing that McFly boy around for a while."

Inside, Jennifer was fuming. However, she felt as if she'd already let too much anger show. She couldn't fail him. He'd be so upset if she let him down. She forced her features to relax into an expression of pleasantness, swallowing the lump in her throat. "I'll try my best, Dad. I can do it. I promise," she said. Before he could respond, she got up and left.

As she retreated to her room, she could barely hear her dad muttering to himself. "That boy's a bad influence on her, anyway. This whole damn town is a bad influence. We should've never moved here," he remarked. She shut the door before she heard any more.

Lying in her bed, she glared up at the ceiling. The bedroom walls that had once been comforting now felt like they were pressing in and trapping her. She had grades, hours of cheerleading practice after school, keeping up with her other friends, and devising new ways to keep Marty away from Strickland's wrath to keep her busy for a long time. With a sigh, she could only spin around and bury her face in the pillow.

...

"Man, seeing town sounds sweet when you put it that way. I just don't know if we'll get in trouble with Doc. I don't feel too good keeping this stuff from him," Marty replied, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, come on. Since when did you care about getting in trouble? Remember all the times you told off Strickland, and all those other times you were late to class?"

"Okay. So maybe I'm not some perfect angel. But this is some really heavy stuff we're in. Time travel and all. Besides...Doc, he's not like those old teachers."

"I just don't want to be stuck here the whole time. You're not scared to leave, are you?" Jennifer asked, a playful glint appearing in her eyes.

"Me? Scared? Hell no! I'm not scared. You know what, I guess it won't hurt to go and hang out around town. Doc probably won't notice as long as we're back sometime tonight."

Jennifer's face lit up and she grabbed Marty's hand. They departed the room from the front door. While sneaking across the dark lawn, they crouched slightly as they walked to make sure they couldn't be viewed from the garage windows. Their plan was successful. Without Doc Brown knowing, they slipped off into the night in the direction of downtown Hill Valley.

...

After walking through a maze of old buildings and darkened side streets, they arrived at the square. Their first stop was to the thrift shop so they could get clothes. It wasn't as if Jennifer was going to wander around 1950's Hill Valley in attire that won't come into fashion for another thirty years. She couldn't help but imagine the questioning stares she'd get from passerby if she did that.

The night was getting closer to ending with every second that passed, so she made things hasty. While searching through the dusty shelves and cluttered spaces of the shop, she settled on clothes to wear and entered the fitting room with a simple blouse, skirt, and glasses.

Once she'd tried the clothes on, she stared in the mirror. Jennifer smiled and allowed the skirt to swish around her. She felt as if she were a little girl playing dress-up with her mother's clothes. The person staring back at her appeared more carefree than she'd ever been back in her time, and she loved that feeling. It almost looked as if she truly belonged to the unfamiliar era she'd found herself in. She was ready to take on the world.

"What about this?" she asked upon leaving the fitting room. Marty, too, had made an attempt to fit in with the time period, but he had finished looking before she had and was sitting in a chair outside the room to wait for her.

"It looks great, Jen. Are you ready to leave?"

She nodded yes. Smiling so hard her cheeks began to ache, she jogged to the cashier. Thanks to a combination of the thrift-shop prices and 1950s prices, they had enough money left on them to pay for the clothes. While they were going to the front of the store to pay and while the cashier was ringing up their purchases, Jennifer silently hoped that nobody else would notice the dates on the bills. The cashier didn't, so the purchase went off without a hitch.

Soon, they stood at the shop's front door. Jennifer looked out across the town laid out before her. Some stores were closed, but others had lit up for the night when the sun began setting. Meanwhile, the stately clock tower stood over it all.

"So...are you ready to go look around?" Marty asked.

Jennifer giggled, swept up in the excitement. You bet I am."

As they truly began their night on the town, Jennifer felt as if she was floating on air.


	3. Strong and Sudden

The stars were a sight to behold that night.

From the dark lot directly behind Lou's Café, the night sky was easily visible. The constellations seemed a slight bit brighter as Jennifer stared at stars twinkling across the sky. Muffled music played from the café behind them. However, Marty and herself were away from the building's warm lights, the chatter of people packed into booths, and waitresses flitting back and forth with trays of steaming food.

With Marty's arm around Jennifer, they sat, huddled next to each other. Eventually, even the café grew quieter and dimmer as people inside left for the night. A slight November chill had snuck into the air after nightfall. "It's getting late," said Marty with a sigh.

"I know. But before we go, can I ask you one thing?"

"Shoot."

"Did you have fun tonight?"

"Yeah, Jen. I kind of needed tonight to get away from...everything else going on," he replied with a sigh. He took his eyes off her.

The corners of her lips turned up. "Well, maybe we could stay here for a little longer."

"Believe me, I want to. But the Doc will be pissed enough as it is if he finds us gone. We'd better get going soon; it's a long walk."

"Wait!" Jennifer exclaimed. "I have an idea. Right behind my house, there's a path that goes through town. It leads us right towards Riverside Drive, and it'll take less time to walk there. There's a bunch of trees behind the housing development; nobody would see us. So we could stay here longer, and then just take the shortcut."

Jennifer was surprised she hadn't thought of utilizing the woodsy path behind her house sooner. It had taken effort to try and keep Marty from being caught by the school's disciplinarian for various misdemeanors, after all.

She leaned back against the wall of the café and Marty wrapped his arm around her once again. Wishing the moment would last forever, she exhaled deeply in relaxation. Soon, the night would end and she'd return to Dr. Brown's home. However, she tried her best to enjoy the last bit of time before that would happen. In that instant, she almost felt as if things were normal. She didn't have to dwell on the sobering fact that she was lost in a time she didn't belong in.

...

As Jennifer neared the path's entrance, she tiptoed softly forward so as not to crunch leaves under her feet and make extra noise. The dirt path extended in front of her, seeming much longer than it actually was. She focused on the light at the end of the shortcut and began to tiptoe forward. Marty crept behind her as well, holding a bag that contained their clothes from the thrift shop. Right before they'd started the walk to the mansion, they had ducked into the café's restrooms and changed back into their old clothes. There was no need cause any more suspicion with Doc than necessary.

They continued forth and were only interrupted by Marty whispering, "Something's wrong here."

"What do you mean?"

"I can see the backs of these houses! We never could before. If someone looked out their back window, they'd see us, no problem."

"Oh, the trees! That's it. It's just a time difference between here and the eighties. The trees haven't grown to a size where they would block us from being seen. I didn't think of this," said Jennifer. Sure enough, one side of the path was occupied by the woods, but the other contained backyards, picket fences, and houses that seemed to sparkle from newness.

"Okay. We can still do this. Just lay low and get to the other side and we should be fine either way."

"Got it," she replied. Without another word, they crouched down and crept forward across the path.

Jennifer held her breath as if that would help her walk in a quieter fashion. Soon, she found herself nearing the house that she knew would one day be hers. She couldn't help but to stare at it and wonder who would be inside. Her parents had bought the house around this time, she vaguely remembered. They'd move in soon if they hadn't done so already. Even if they had, the house would still possess differences unique to the time period that was completely alien to Jennifer. It wasn't her home.

They tiptoed forward, keeping their heads down and turning their faces away from the row of houses. Jennifer tried to convince herself that nothing would happen. It's night and everyone would be going to sleep soon, she thought. Nobody would notice them at all. They would be back at Doc's in no time.

The back door of her future house was thrown open by an unseen figure. A clatter of footsteps sounded across the deck that was dangerously close to where they stood. They'd be in plain sight to the people there if they didn't do something immediately.

A bolt of adrenaline surged through Jennifer. "There's people in that house! Should we run?" she whispered to Marty.

"I don't know! They might see us. Here, hide behind this fence."

The white picket fence in question belonged to the house next to Jennifer's, and sitting behind the fence blocked their view of it. As she rested, her breaths were heavy and ragged. She feared that someone, somehow might hear them. "Now what?" she asked.

"Why don't we just wait and see if they go away? If they don't, we'll just have to sneak out."

Jennifer nodded. She leaned her head against the fence, and allowed bits of a faraway conversation to enter her ears.

"I don't trust that real estate man. I had to get away from him just to talk to you without getting interrupted. Looks shifty-eyed to me. I don't want him trying anything," said a man's voice.

"Oh, Harold, you're worrying about nothing again. It's a house showing. He's supposed to use sales tactics to get people to buy his product," replied a more feminine one.

"It's a house! It's an important part of life! He's not telling us everything I want to be safe from robbers and the like, that's all. Why'd we come to the suburbs at all? There's so much noise and people. We could've found a nice place in the country somewhere, but-"

"Oh, I like it! And I'm not living in a place where our next neighbors are a mile away. You want to make me happy, don't you?"

From her spot behind the neighbor's fence, Jennifer had to cover her mouth to keep herself from gasping as she heard the exchange near her. Even though the voices were younger and less gruff, and she could barely make out what they were saying due to the distance between them, she'd recognize those voices anywhere. "Marty, I think those people are my parents!"

"Holy shit! Okay, okay, don't panic. We'll just get out now. We can sneak away and they'll never notice."

"Hey! Who's there?" Jennifer's dad barked. "I heard something move! Don't try and hide from me!"

"I'm sure it was nothing. Just an animal, probably," her mother replied. However, the loud, thumping footsteps sounded across the deck stairs anyway as he descended towards the hiding spot behind the fence.

Marty's plan had instantly fallen through. They had grown desperate, and went with one final idea to evade getting caught trespassing.

"Change of plans. Run!" Jennifer exclaimed. Marty didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled to their feet and made a break for it. Sneakers slapped against the dirt path as they grew closer to the end of the woods. Next time, Jennifer thought, she was going to remind Marty not to try and sneak around while wearing a bright orange vest.

Jennifer's father had begun to chase them. "Come back here! You better not try and hurt us. You're gonna have hell to pay!"

Marty and Jennifer sprinted at top speed towards the end of the path. Jennifer took notice of street lamps casting light on the nearest road and beckoning her away from the dark. Their pursuer didn't show a single sign of tiring, maintaining a steady pace. His increasingly loud footsteps were an indicator of how he was gaining on them.

"Just a little longer!" said Marty.

Jennifer nodded, fixing her gaze forward with a renewed determination. She channeled every ounce of her energy into the chase and soon found herself gaining speed. The dirt path soon gave way to the pavement of the back road that led to Jennifer's house.

With Marty at her heels, Jennifer ran into the night as fast as she could. She stared only at the stretch of road directly in front of her in order to focus. Her surroundings sped past in a blur. To evade him, they turned off the main path to avoid being caught under the street lamps. The woodsy area of the path grew more distant with every step until they could no longer hear the footsteps of the person chasing them. They continued running for a while longer anyway.

Finally, she dared to stop and look behind her. "I think we lost him," she said, breathing heavily. Even in the dark, she knew there wasn't anybody else in her sight besides Marty. They were successful in their plans to escape; she didn't think her father had gotten so much as a glimpse of their faces.

"That was a close one!" he said.

"I know. Let's hurry. We'd better get back to Dr. Brown's in case my dad comes after us again."

They took off again, that time at a slow jog, on the long and winding road back to the Brown Mansion while reveling in their own sense of relief.

...

In all his life, Mr. Parker had never seen people with such strange clothes before. It must be some sort of new beatnik fad, he thought to himself. The only thing more noticeable than their strange attire was their behavior. It was their trespassing onto unknown property that made him chase after them. Maybe he was overreacting, but he didn't want to risk getting robbed or worse.

Soon after they were chased back into public property, Mr. Parker had given up. The ones he chased had been quick on their feet, enough so that they outran him. He trudged back through the trees to return to where he was before. His wife was waiting for him, arms crossed, as was the real estate agent. "Can I speak to my wife for a minute?" he asked the agent, pulling her aside before he could answer. Once the other person was suitably out of earshot, he said, "Okay, this is the last straw. I already thought this place was a bad idea, but this is ridiculous! We're here for an hour and we've already seen these delinquents running around!"

"Oh, it's not that bad. The town seems so nice, and those kids didn't hurt anybody," his wife replied.

"But they could have! I know one thing: this town is going to be a bad influence and I won't stand to live here."

"You say that about every place we visit, dear."

...

The mansion looming overhead was a welcome sight as Marty followed Jennifer up the driveway. When the garage-turned-lab came into view, Marty rose onto his toes to look inside the window. The sliver of lamplight filtering through the window seemed brighter as the outside world grew darker, but it was actually the same as when they'd left. "Geez, he's still in there," remarked Marty.

If Dr. Brown had known they were missing, he didn't show it as Marty went to the door, pushed it open, and entered the garage. While standing over the car, he startled, almost dropping the wire in his hand. After securing the wire and adjusting his goggles, he spun around to address them. "Marty! Jennifer! Come look at this. I found the DeLorean, and it has a flux capacitor identical to my design. This is amazing!" he said. His expression grew solemn. "I'll finally do it."

"That's great! Did you, uh, find anything new in the car?" Marty asked.

"Ah, yes. About that. I'm sorry, but there's no possible way to harness the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity needed to power the machine. I'm afraid you're stuck here."

Marty paled, looking as if the breath had been sucked out of him. "What? No! We can't be stuck here! I can't stay here for the rest of my life!" he exclaimed.

Jennifer stood quietly, feeling utterly helpless. Against the forces of time and space that ruled the universe, she was one person. An insignificant speck. Practically nothing. "You can't give up now, Dr. Brown," she finally spoke.

Dr. Brown was quiet as Marty paced back and forth. His head and shoulders dejectedly slumped towards the ground, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets. When his hands touched paper, he pulled a blue sheet from his pocket. He unfolded the crumpled paper, uncaringly tossed it on a nearby table, and said, "Forgot I had this."

It was the paper Jennifer had written her phone number on in 1985. Oh, how things had changed since then.

"Had what, Marty?" Dr. Brown asked.

"Nothing. Just some paper about that clock tower that got hit with lightning a while ago."

"Lightning, you say? Mind if I take a look?"

Marty picked up and handed over the paper, which was quickly inspected by Dr. Brown. He scanned the lines of text, nodding to himself and muttering, "Yes, yes, this might do," to himself. "This paper might just get you home."

"What? How?" asked Marty.

"The lightning bolt will hit the clock tower one week from today, on November twelfth. If we were to somehow channel the electricity into the car, it might generate enough energy to get you back to the future."

In the room, the mood lifted like a hot-air balloon. The glimmer of hope wasn't much, but it was something to cling to. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Marty asked. "Let's do this."


End file.
